The ABCs of Screenprinting
Legend has it that a contemporary admirer of Michelangelos work with marble stated a question to the effect of: "how do you make such a beautiful statue out of a piece of marble?" Reportedly,Michelangelo answered to the effect of, "Its easy. I just take away the parts of marble that dont belong there."
Fast forward a number of centuries and reduce a dimension to 2-D. This would classically describe what a craftsman does in silk screening.
At the very base of the model a craftsman takes a frame and catches a fine mesh typically made of a synthetic material. This mesh encased frame has attached with a pattern utilizing a thin-film material preventing Ink from passing through the mesh. Therefore, anywhere the thin-film is not the ink may pass through to the target material.
At a high-level, this explains the silkscreen printing process. If that was all there was to it, anyone with an eye for art could wield an X-Acto knife in the thin-film to create a pretty pattern.
Screen printing was first discovered in China around about 1000 AD. It didnt gain any real traction until the 18th century in Europe when silk became more available.
Silk is strong yet can be very thin. That is probably why it is often referred to as silk screening. In the USA, it became popular in art circles when Andy Warhol created hit depiction of Marilyn Monroe.
I suspect the saying, "the devil is in the details" may well have been first uttered by a silkscreen printer. The bedeviling points come from the sheer number of options in classical silkscreen printing. As you may have seen in other articles here, Ink very vague and nebulous term. We have already reviewed ink run through an HP printer to print replacement human bones. That research has successfully grown human kidney by printing with human cells. Considering this, it is little wonder that the ink used in silkscreen printing can and does vary wildly.
For example I have a heavy cotton black sweatshirt. The ink is specialized in several ways. The pigment had some sort of material that expanded when heated.
This gave the graphics a 3-D relief. Further, the visible light pigments had a chemical added at the time of manufacture so the graphic would absorb light, and glow-in-the-dark. The graphic is some frogs. Trust me, it really amazes a child under the age of five to see 3-D glowing frogs on my sweatshirt ;).
Screen printing has a lot more to do with our daily lives than clothing and curtains. Everything from the balloons to billboards, decals to medical devices use screen printing. Even circuit boards, and solar cells are created in this fashion.
Today, were beginning to see actual electronic circuits that are printed in this fashion.
Whether it be an old-fashioned flat screen, a cylinder or a rotary press, these are often analog methodologies. Generally speaking, an analog technique is more expensive to set up, with a great return on investment. If you are doing a larger number of units.
Lets contrast this to digital screen-printing.
In digital screen-printing, we can go back to our old friends the Pizeo-electric way as created by HP, or the bubble jet method with Canon as the creator.
Because the pigment must go through a print head, it cannot pack the density the analog methods can. If one was to want to print on the aforementioned black sweatshirt, it would require laying down a white base before the colored pigments.
You are carrying a serious advantage when doing digital screen printing for: prototyping, one offs and short runs. More than a couple of entrepreneurs have made the 10K to $200,000 investment to print, direct to garment. You can find them at carnivals, kiosks in malls, or small retail storefronts.
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Fast forward a number of centuries and reduce a dimension to 2-D. This would classically describe what a craftsman does in silk screening.
At the very base of the model a craftsman takes a frame and catches a fine mesh typically made of a synthetic material. This mesh encased frame has attached with a pattern utilizing a thin-film material preventing Ink from passing through the mesh. Therefore, anywhere the thin-film is not the ink may pass through to the target material.
At a high-level, this explains the silkscreen printing process. If that was all there was to it, anyone with an eye for art could wield an X-Acto knife in the thin-film to create a pretty pattern.
Screen printing was first discovered in China around about 1000 AD. It didnt gain any real traction until the 18th century in Europe when silk became more available.
Silk is strong yet can be very thin. That is probably why it is often referred to as silk screening. In the USA, it became popular in art circles when Andy Warhol created hit depiction of Marilyn Monroe.
I suspect the saying, "the devil is in the details" may well have been first uttered by a silkscreen printer. The bedeviling points come from the sheer number of options in classical silkscreen printing. As you may have seen in other articles here, Ink very vague and nebulous term. We have already reviewed ink run through an HP printer to print replacement human bones. That research has successfully grown human kidney by printing with human cells. Considering this, it is little wonder that the ink used in silkscreen printing can and does vary wildly.
For example I have a heavy cotton black sweatshirt. The ink is specialized in several ways. The pigment had some sort of material that expanded when heated.
This gave the graphics a 3-D relief. Further, the visible light pigments had a chemical added at the time of manufacture so the graphic would absorb light, and glow-in-the-dark. The graphic is some frogs. Trust me, it really amazes a child under the age of five to see 3-D glowing frogs on my sweatshirt ;).
Screen printing has a lot more to do with our daily lives than clothing and curtains. Everything from the balloons to billboards, decals to medical devices use screen printing. Even circuit boards, and solar cells are created in this fashion.
Today, were beginning to see actual electronic circuits that are printed in this fashion.
Whether it be an old-fashioned flat screen, a cylinder or a rotary press, these are often analog methodologies. Generally speaking, an analog technique is more expensive to set up, with a great return on investment. If you are doing a larger number of units.
Lets contrast this to digital screen-printing.
In digital screen-printing, we can go back to our old friends the Pizeo-electric way as created by HP, or the bubble jet method with Canon as the creator.
Because the pigment must go through a print head, it cannot pack the density the analog methods can. If one was to want to print on the aforementioned black sweatshirt, it would require laying down a white base before the colored pigments.
You are carrying a serious advantage when doing digital screen printing for: prototyping, one offs and short runs. More than a couple of entrepreneurs have made the 10K to $200,000 investment to print, direct to garment. You can find them at carnivals, kiosks in malls, or small retail storefronts.
All in One Downloader for Windows EagleGet
All-in-One Downloader for Windows- EagleGet:
When you want to download multiple large files from the internet, it is always good to use a download manager as these apps can resume your download in case your connection is lost between the download process. We have covered a list of best download managers for Windows on this blog already. EagleGet is a new freeware all-in-one download manager for Windows with a neat UI and also features.
When you install EagleGet, it installs the add-on for all browsers to detect links and download them. When ever you browse the internet any downloadable content is automatically discovered by the extension and it shows a download button. It pops up a dialog with the link, name of the file and storage location.
You can also add download links manually or from the browser context menu. You can right click on download link and add it to EagleGet from the browsers.
Once you start the download process, you can see a small floating window on the desktop, which shows all the active download and also comes with some management options of its own.
There is also option to set a maximum number of threads (up to 10), as well as impose a transfer restriction. Once the download is complete, you get instant notification and you can either open the file or the location. EagleGet uses advanced multi-threaded technology to accelerate downloads by splitting files into several parts and then transferring them simultaneously, thus increase download speed by up to 6 times.
What makes EagleGet stand out from the competition is its simple UI along with powerful set of features. It automatically integrates in popular browsers (Google Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer) and takes over the download task. EagleGet is definitely worth a try even though the app is still in beta.
Download EagleGet
Via Nirmal
ReadMore detail...
When you want to download multiple large files from the internet, it is always good to use a download manager as these apps can resume your download in case your connection is lost between the download process. We have covered a list of best download managers for Windows on this blog already. EagleGet is a new freeware all-in-one download manager for Windows with a neat UI and also features.
When you install EagleGet, it installs the add-on for all browsers to detect links and download them. When ever you browse the internet any downloadable content is automatically discovered by the extension and it shows a download button. It pops up a dialog with the link, name of the file and storage location.
You can also add download links manually or from the browser context menu. You can right click on download link and add it to EagleGet from the browsers.
Once you start the download process, you can see a small floating window on the desktop, which shows all the active download and also comes with some management options of its own.
There is also option to set a maximum number of threads (up to 10), as well as impose a transfer restriction. Once the download is complete, you get instant notification and you can either open the file or the location. EagleGet uses advanced multi-threaded technology to accelerate downloads by splitting files into several parts and then transferring them simultaneously, thus increase download speed by up to 6 times.
What makes EagleGet stand out from the competition is its simple UI along with powerful set of features. It automatically integrates in popular browsers (Google Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer) and takes over the download task. EagleGet is definitely worth a try even though the app is still in beta.
Download EagleGet
Via Nirmal
Snap Guides To Measure Website Elements With Tape For Chrome
Snap Guides To Measure Website Elements With Tape For Chrome:
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Good web design relies on several factors, one of which is the right placement of every element. Tape is a Chrome extension to help web designers with this by allowing you to add rulers to a web page. Tape goes beyond what common pixel-measuring extensions offer; it doesn’t just tell you the area occupied by a particular element in pixels, but also lets you add as many rulers to the browser interface as you want, to measure and outline the relative distance of different elements from each other. You can add rulers both horizontally and vertically, define origin points (yes, more than one), and set the pointer to automatically snap to different elements in a web page as you move over them, much like in Photoshop. Tape is enabled on a webpage through a button and is controlled solely through your keyboard. Obviously, the web page itself does not remain functional while Tape is enabled, so you won’t miss the normal key functionality.
Once installed, click the extension’s button next to the URL bar to enable it. A small popup will appear at the bottom left, listing the keyboard shortcuts and their functions. Your cursor will automatically change in to a ruler with both horizontal and vertical lines. As you move your cursor across the web page, you will notice it snaps to the elements (highlighted in red). Consult the list of keyboard functions to determine how to add a ruler. Most of these shortcuts are quite intuitive to begin with; for instance, you can use the H and L keys respectively to add horizontal and vertical ruler lines.
You can drop both a vertical and horizontal line that originate from the same point by positioning your cursor over it and hitting the O key. Tape is excellent for working with large design elements, and also offers a magnifying tool that will allow you to add rulers to smaller elements. To activate the magnifying tool (called the Loupe), hit the L key with Tape enabled, and your cursor will magnify whatever you move it over.
The rulers that Tape enables can accurately accommodate even the small display elements, and creating a good grid around them is very easy. Perhaps the best feature of the extension is that if you deactivate Tape on a page after drawing a grid on it, it will remember your old markings whenever you next activate it, so long as you do not refresh the page, close the tab, or exit browser.
Tape is quite fast and very responsive, and we found no reason to complain about in our testing. The features are enough for every web designer who uses Chrome to give it a try.
Install Tape From Chrome Web Store
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Once installed, click the extension’s button next to the URL bar to enable it. A small popup will appear at the bottom left, listing the keyboard shortcuts and their functions. Your cursor will automatically change in to a ruler with both horizontal and vertical lines. As you move your cursor across the web page, you will notice it snaps to the elements (highlighted in red). Consult the list of keyboard functions to determine how to add a ruler. Most of these shortcuts are quite intuitive to begin with; for instance, you can use the H and L keys respectively to add horizontal and vertical ruler lines.
You can drop both a vertical and horizontal line that originate from the same point by positioning your cursor over it and hitting the O key. Tape is excellent for working with large design elements, and also offers a magnifying tool that will allow you to add rulers to smaller elements. To activate the magnifying tool (called the Loupe), hit the L key with Tape enabled, and your cursor will magnify whatever you move it over.
The rulers that Tape enables can accurately accommodate even the small display elements, and creating a good grid around them is very easy. Perhaps the best feature of the extension is that if you deactivate Tape on a page after drawing a grid on it, it will remember your old markings whenever you next activate it, so long as you do not refresh the page, close the tab, or exit browser.
Tape is quite fast and very responsive, and we found no reason to complain about in our testing. The features are enough for every web designer who uses Chrome to give it a try.
Install Tape From Chrome Web Store
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Create Natively Syncing Notes In Google Chrome With Papercuts
There are countless note-taking extensions available for many popular web browsers, but the ones that save and sync your notes across computers usually rely on a third-party service at the back end for the purpose and if you don’t have an account on the service already, you end up having to sign up for it just to be able to sync your notes across different browsers and devices. Some extensions lack a sync feature altogether, and the notes are only accessible from the browser you made them in. Papercuts is a Chrome extension that relies solely on Chrome’s own sync feature to sync the notes you create between different installations of the browser. The notes themselves can be of any length, and each one has it’s own title. Papercuts adds its button next to the URL bar, and lets you work on multiple notes at the same time under different tabs in the extension’s popup window. You can also copy the entire text from a note with just a single click.
Before you start using Papercuts, make sure you have Chrome sync set up and that you have enabled extensions to sync. If you haven’t done so already, just go to Chrome Settings, sign in with your Google account and make extension syncing is enabled. You will have to sign in with the same Google account and keep extension syncing enabled like this on all Chrome installations that you want to access your notes from.
Once done with the sync configuration, you can launch the extension by clicking its button. Tabs are located at the top and multiple notes can be tiled over each other in each tab. A note can also be dragged from one tab to the other. To add a note, click the plus sign at the bottom, while to add a new tab, click the plus sign at the top.The left/right arrows above all notes allows you to move through the different notes you have in a particular tab. The drag icon next to a note label lets you move the note to a different tab. You can drag the corner of a note to resize its text area. The small arrow at the left of each label lets you collapse or expand a note, and the copy icon under it lets you copy the text from that note to your clipboard with one click.
At the bottom, there is a notebook button that will open all your notes and tabs in a separate Chrome tab for a larger UI that’s easier to work with. You can assign a keyboard shortcut to any nine notes from here, though this didn’t seem to work for us in our testing.
Next to the notebook button is a cog wheel button that opens Papercuts’ options. The options allow you to select a background color for your notes, and change the width of the popup.
Lastly, according to the extension’s feature list, if you select text on a web page and right-click it, you will be able to add it to a note in Papercuts. We did get the option in the context menu, but the feature didn’t work in our testing. However, pasting the contents of any of your notes into a text field using the context menu worked fine.
Papercuts is ad-supported, but the advertisements appear only when you access the notebook or it’s options, and are quite unobtrusive. You can grab the extension using the link provided below.
Install Papercuts From Chrome Web Store
Via Addictivetips
Before you start using Papercuts, make sure you have Chrome sync set up and that you have enabled extensions to sync. If you haven’t done so already, just go to Chrome Settings, sign in with your Google account and make extension syncing is enabled. You will have to sign in with the same Google account and keep extension syncing enabled like this on all Chrome installations that you want to access your notes from.
Once done with the sync configuration, you can launch the extension by clicking its button. Tabs are located at the top and multiple notes can be tiled over each other in each tab. A note can also be dragged from one tab to the other. To add a note, click the plus sign at the bottom, while to add a new tab, click the plus sign at the top.The left/right arrows above all notes allows you to move through the different notes you have in a particular tab. The drag icon next to a note label lets you move the note to a different tab. You can drag the corner of a note to resize its text area. The small arrow at the left of each label lets you collapse or expand a note, and the copy icon under it lets you copy the text from that note to your clipboard with one click.
At the bottom, there is a notebook button that will open all your notes and tabs in a separate Chrome tab for a larger UI that’s easier to work with. You can assign a keyboard shortcut to any nine notes from here, though this didn’t seem to work for us in our testing.
Next to the notebook button is a cog wheel button that opens Papercuts’ options. The options allow you to select a background color for your notes, and change the width of the popup.
Lastly, according to the extension’s feature list, if you select text on a web page and right-click it, you will be able to add it to a note in Papercuts. We did get the option in the context menu, but the feature didn’t work in our testing. However, pasting the contents of any of your notes into a text field using the context menu worked fine.
Papercuts is ad-supported, but the advertisements appear only when you access the notebook or it’s options, and are quite unobtrusive. You can grab the extension using the link provided below.
Install Papercuts From Chrome Web Store
Via Addictivetips
How To Remove a Contact Connection on LinkedIn
Do you have a contact on LinkedIn that keeps on sending messages that clutter your feed with all sorts of useless stuff? So do I, but it seems that getting rid of them is not as simple as it is on other social networks.
You’d think that simply accessing that contact’s profile would provide you with a link to get rid of them, but it doesn’t. Here’s how to properly remove a connection you no longer want.
On the next page, use search and / or filters to find the contact you want to remove.
Now check the contact’s name, or names if you want to remove more than one. The selected contacts show up in the right hand column. Click the “X” icon next to each one of them and the contact will be removed.
There you go! Now the contact has been removed. And in case you want to get rid of LinkedIn entirely, this is how to delete your account.
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You’d think that simply accessing that contact’s profile would provide you with a link to get rid of them, but it doesn’t. Here’s how to properly remove a connection you no longer want.
Remove LinkedIn Connection
Log in to your account and select Contacts on the top menu of your LinkedIn homepage. Then click Connections.On the next page, use search and / or filters to find the contact you want to remove.
Now check the contact’s name, or names if you want to remove more than one. The selected contacts show up in the right hand column. Click the “X” icon next to each one of them and the contact will be removed.
There you go! Now the contact has been removed. And in case you want to get rid of LinkedIn entirely, this is how to delete your account.
Via Groovypost
Rooting your Android device – Why its a Big Deal
Being a Smartphone user, you might have heard a lot about the terms that only “hackers” do. Such as if you are an iOS user (iPhone, iPad), you might hear a lot about jailbreak, unlock etc. An Android user comes across terms such as rooting, custom ROMs, etc. Today we are going to know the advantages of rooting an Android device or phone, why it is a big deal and what you as a user can benefit out of it.
Rooting, as you guessed it, is basically allowing you the privileges of a root user. As Android is not a normal Linux system, that is you don’t have a keyboard or mouse or there is no way to get to the bios or grub, rooting is harder to get through without the help of some apps.
Some phones like the HTC will have to go through an extra process of unlocking the bootloader. Some other phones have different ways to go about rooting. Even companies have provided official ways of rooting your android.
Performance boost – Some apps, when given root privileges, can modify the hardware settings such as under-clocking or over-clocking your phone’s processor, changing the brightness settings even further, increase read/write speeds, and so on.
Enable deeper access to your file system - As a root user, you now will have the freedom to check any part of the android file system. You can even delete default apps that are otherwise cannot be installed.
WiFi, Bluetooth Tethering - Most mobile phones, especially carrier locked ones, do not have the complete freedom with regards to tethering over WiFi or Bluetooth. By rooting your phone, you can now have this capability through custom apps and firmwares.
Custom ROMs - This is another buzz word making rounds in the Android eco-system. Custom ROMs are basically android OSs that is being built by people other than the manufacturers. Android is open-source and many manufacturers release the source code of their phones for app developers. People (read hackers) can use port these ROMs to virtually all Android phones. The biggest advantage you gain here is the freedom, vanilla OS, latest firmware in unsupported devices. I own a Galaxy S I9000 for which Samsung has last provided the official Gingerbread update back in 2011. But through custom ROMs I now have the latest version of Jelly Bean running smoothly. Yes, you do have share of troubles, but in my case it is totally worth it. You can all do this only after rooting the phone.
Backup - By rooting, you can take a complete backup of your android. Nandroid is an ultimate backup tool that lets you restore your android as it was when the backup was taken, after a crash for example.
Rooting your phone does come at a cost. Generally the software warranty is void after you root your Android phone. And also the more you experiment with the limitless options, the more troubles your phone is going to spew out. Most rooted phones have the “SuperSu” app installed, which gives you the control over which apps can be given root privileges. If you are more of a hacker, you can also install a terminal emulator, like the Android Terminal Emulator, and type in commands that can be run only under root.
Rooting your Android phone is not a necessity. But through rooting, you can truly be called the king of your mobile!
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What is Rooting?
“Root” is a term commonly associated with UNIX-based operating systems such as Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSUSE, etc) and Apple OS X. From this page,root is the user name or account that by default has access to all commands and files on a Linux or other Unix-like operating system.Every UNIX system has root user, whose user credentials is usually set by the administrator. Android is based on Linux and hence also has the root user. Unlike every other Linux distro, it is tough to get the root user privileges. It is not available to the user by default. Some mobile companies (HTC, Sony) go to lengths to prevent rooting on their phones.
Rooting, as you guessed it, is basically allowing you the privileges of a root user. As Android is not a normal Linux system, that is you don’t have a keyboard or mouse or there is no way to get to the bios or grub, rooting is harder to get through without the help of some apps.
How do I root my Android?
Now you don’t have to be a hacker to know how to root your android, there are great up-to-date guides on rooting, the best one being the Lifehacker article on rooting almost any Android phone. The best app I found for rooting is the SuperOneClick root app for windows, with a simple click of a button you can root almost any Android phone. There are many applications available for rooting, some even can be installed in your Android phone as a mobile app and root your phone from within!Some phones like the HTC will have to go through an extra process of unlocking the bootloader. Some other phones have different ways to go about rooting. Even companies have provided official ways of rooting your android.
Ok, But what do I benefit After Rooting my Android?
Well, you know now that a root user has privileges to do anything and everything on the system. Again this Lifehacker article has listed 5 major reasons for rooting. I will list some of the advantages of rooting here.Performance boost – Some apps, when given root privileges, can modify the hardware settings such as under-clocking or over-clocking your phone’s processor, changing the brightness settings even further, increase read/write speeds, and so on.
Enable deeper access to your file system - As a root user, you now will have the freedom to check any part of the android file system. You can even delete default apps that are otherwise cannot be installed.
WiFi, Bluetooth Tethering - Most mobile phones, especially carrier locked ones, do not have the complete freedom with regards to tethering over WiFi or Bluetooth. By rooting your phone, you can now have this capability through custom apps and firmwares.
Custom ROMs - This is another buzz word making rounds in the Android eco-system. Custom ROMs are basically android OSs that is being built by people other than the manufacturers. Android is open-source and many manufacturers release the source code of their phones for app developers. People (read hackers) can use port these ROMs to virtually all Android phones. The biggest advantage you gain here is the freedom, vanilla OS, latest firmware in unsupported devices. I own a Galaxy S I9000 for which Samsung has last provided the official Gingerbread update back in 2011. But through custom ROMs I now have the latest version of Jelly Bean running smoothly. Yes, you do have share of troubles, but in my case it is totally worth it. You can all do this only after rooting the phone.
Backup - By rooting, you can take a complete backup of your android. Nandroid is an ultimate backup tool that lets you restore your android as it was when the backup was taken, after a crash for example.
Rooting your phone does come at a cost. Generally the software warranty is void after you root your Android phone. And also the more you experiment with the limitless options, the more troubles your phone is going to spew out. Most rooted phones have the “SuperSu” app installed, which gives you the control over which apps can be given root privileges. If you are more of a hacker, you can also install a terminal emulator, like the Android Terminal Emulator, and type in commands that can be run only under root.
UC Browser v8 8 Symbian S60v5 S 3 Anna Belle Signed
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UC Browser for Symbian 8.8: Look, Share, and Browse Better on your Symbian Device!
We’re always looking to make big improvements to our browser with each version, and now we’re here to deliver!
The new UC Browser for Symbian 8.8 contains several new features to enhance the look and feel of browsing on your Symbian device.
New In v8.8
- Customized online wallpapers: You can now download a range of the latest wallpapers from our network.
- Share to Twitter: Links and images can now be shared on Twitter.
- Clear browsing history on exit: When exiting UC Browser you now have the option to clear your browsing history, protecting your privacy.
- Improved bookmarks managing on touch phones: New and improved ways to manage your bookmarks on touch phones.
- Auto-complete of search keywords: Searching is faster and easier withauto-complete.
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